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3.5/4

A very good (and super easy) mushroom barley recipe. The day I made it, I thought it deserved three forks, but the next day, the flavor improved to four !! I took the easy route and used boneless stew meat. I took the "cheaper" route and used fresh crimini mushrooms instead of other assorted wild ones. And I did add a teaspoon of smoked paprika and a teaspoon of Worcester sauce to deepen the flavor. As others said, this makes a lot of soup. It served 12 of us adequately as a main course!

jsbjk
from Winnetka, IL
/ 02.03.2014

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I made this for a recent family gathering and it was an absolute hit. Here is what I did to alter the recipe based upon some of the comments previous individuals had made.
First, I made my own beef stock. Why? Because home-made stock is SO much better than store bought. You can really taste the difference.
Second, I purchased stew meat from Whole Foods instead of what the recipe called for. I browned it first and then added it in just before the 1.5 hour simmer. The Whole Foods stew meat is so much more tender when cooked and it ended being "Melt in your mouth" tender in the end. I used 1.75 pounds based upon comments about the volume of soup made but in the end I could have used more.
Third, I used only 1 cup of barley based upon previous comments but I could have used more also. The 1 cup did, however, provide the right amount of thickening so to add more would make it a bit thicker.
Fourth, I too added the rehydrating mushroom liquid to the overall amount of water added. Instead of seven cups, I combined two cups of mushroom liquid to five cups of water. In the end, seven cups total plus the 8 cups of home-made beef broth.
In the end, this recipe did make more than 8 bowls for me but it really ended up being more like 10 to 11 bowls in total. That is a far cry from the 15-20 some were getting so not sure how big their bowls were. It made no difference for us because the soup is a keeper and was enjoyed down to the last spoonful.

HookBill
from Orange County, CA
/ 11.29.2013

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I made this recipe as stated, except I used beef for stew meat and a beef shoulder roast. Although it say that it makes 8 servings, it is more like 15-20 servings. It truly does need 15 cups of liquid if you make the recipe with all of the ingredients stated. It was sooo delicious! The barley makes the broth thick, and the meat and veggies are very tender. Note that the red peppers add an overpowering taste to this soup. Although I LOVE raw red peppers, I think I'd cut back or eliminate them from the soup as it is a bit much.

tahoe4
from Lewis Center, OH
/ 10.13.2012

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Since it is the 1st autumn storm of
the season, I decided to make a
hearty soup. It has been a few yrs
since I made this, but I did
remember how much the recipe makes.
I decided to make half the recipe. I
also followed others advice to use
beef short ribs. I also used the
button mushrooms instead of wild, to
save cost. One thing I do recommend,
deglaze the pan with a cup of wine,
and reduce with a dash of
Worcestershire sauce for more depth.
I also cut back the amount of
barley. It is a yummy, old world
style soup!

JavaDee
from austin
/ 09.16.2012

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yummie

suefoster123
from boston,ma
/ 12.28.2011

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This is a great winter soup recipe. I followed the recipe as writen but reduced the barley to 1/4 cup and next time I would add more meat. This makes a ton of soup so we froze half.By far the best beef barley soup ever

lnilsen
from Union Grove, Wi
/ 01.05.2011

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This soup is
fabulous, if you
make a few changes.
First, as someone
mentioned, beef
shanks are
flavorful, but
tough. I used left
over standing rib
roast from Christmas
dinner. I had 1 rib
left, probably 2 lbs
of meat that I cut
into soup size
pieces, and added 3
beef soup bones.
These are basically
shanks without the
meat, but with
wonderful marrow.
And I cut way down
on the liquid. 15
cups? That has to
be a misprint. I
probably had 8
total, a combo of
unsalted broth
(canned broth us the
yuk) and water. And
as someone else
suggested, I soaked
the porcini in hot
water for 20 minutes
and then chopped
them. Added the
soaking water
(careful not to add
the grit that drops
to the bottom) with
the rest of the
liquid. Also used a
mix of crimini and
shitake mushrooms.
Oyster and trumpet
mushrooms were not
available but exotic
mushrooms are worth
it. I cut
the barley back to 1
cup, as I cut the
liquid, but probably
could have gone with
a bit more. Now,
using prime rib meat
and bones made this
a little fatty but
let it cool over
night and you can
scrape as much fat
off as you like.

Blade
from Philadelphia
/ 12.31.2010

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A wonderful lusty soup for winter. Tastes were refined and delicious. My family loved it.

reneeschwoeble
from Lemont, IL
/ 01.28.2010

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Been making this soup since in first appeared in Bon Appetit -- my family loves it.

A Cook
from JC, MO
/ 01.14.2010

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I forgot to mention in my review that I also reduced the barley to 1 1/4 cups.